By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
LAOAG CITY—In time for the October planting season, Ilocos Norte officials encouraged garlic farmers here to expand their production area as the province aims to deliver at least 20 percent or 26,000 metric tons of the national market demand.
Garlic demand in the Philippines based on the National Statistics Office is approximately 128,000 metric tons per year.
As one of the country’s major garlic producer, Ilocos Norte’s garlic industry remains threatened by cartel which government authorities here are trying to suppressed.
“Garlic is a potential product we should look into. Our production target is doable,” said Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Vicentito “Toto” M. Lazo as he urged farmers to help fight cartel, a long-time problem in the agriculture industry which really needs to be taken seriously.
This planting season, the state-run Mariano Marcos State University, Ilocos Norte government, Department of Agriculture and a Japanese firm that specializes in garlic products has started an experimental project to produce bigger and more resilient garlic bulbs.
MMSU president Dr. Shirley Agrupis said new garlic seed materials from Japan will be pilot tested at the MMSU and in Burgos town using Ilocos Norte and Japan technology.
Prior to the arrival of the garlic seed materials from Japan, they conducted a soil analysis to determine the appropriate technology.
Ms. Agrupis hopes the experimental farm will yield positive result to help garlic farmers to produce more.
In support to the garlic industry, Senator Cynthia Villar also pledged to allocate some Php57 million funds to improve the quality of production.
During the last planting season, farmers used about 1,876 hectares to plant garlic with an average yield of 6,000 metric tons.